Democratic-Republican Societies

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Democratic-Republican Societies were local political organizations formed in the United States in 1793-94 to promote republicanism and democracy and fight aristocratic tendencies. The societies were given various other names, including "Democratic", "Republican", "True Republican", "Constitutional", "United Freeman", "Patriotic", "Political", "Franklin", and "Madisonian". The Germans of Philadelphia began the first society in April, 1793, inspired by Peter Muhlenberg. Philadelphia was then the national capital and soon an English-speaking society was formed by David Rittenhouse, Charles Biddle (a prominent Quaker merchant), Dr. George Logan and Alexander J. Dallas. Its charter was widely copied as at least 35 societies sprang up by 1795, located in most important cities. Many leaders soon became active in Jefferson's Republican party. As foreign affairs became more and more the dominant issues, they opposed the British and rallied behind Jefferson, proclaiming their friendship with France.

Activities

The societies usually met once a month, or more often during election season. Applicants for membership had to have five members attest to their "firm and steadfast friend of EQUAL RIGHTS OF MAN" and a couple members could blackball an applicant. "Apostasy from Republican principles" was ground for expulsion. Officers were rotated regularly--in one case every month.

The societies politicked in local elections officially or quietly. They often joined parades and celebrations of July Fourth, and were credited in 1794 with having made that day "more universally celebrated" than it had been. They also celebrated July 14--French Bastille Day. Some societies engaged in direct action to help France in her war with Britain, such as equipping French privateers.

Endless discussions and rounds of resolutions fill the minute books; most common were general addresses and resolutions critical of the Washington administration. In western states they agitated against the British for holding the frontier posts and against the Spanish for closing the Mississippi River; in the East, they denounced Britain for "piracy" against American shipping. In the Carolinas the demanded a uniform currency and demanded adequate representation for the growing backcountry. The societies strongly protested the excise tax on whiskey. They denounced John Jay as special envoy to London and vehemently repudiated the treaty he brought back. They complained about secret sessions of Congress and the state legislatures, demanding that public officials abandon the use of "dark, intricate, antiquated formalities" and "obsolete phraseology" that only lawyers and classical scholars could understand.Foner and Morris, p. 10

The societies preached equal justice and a general diffusion of knowledge as essential "pillars supporting the sacred temple of liberty." A primary purpose of the societies was to disseminate political information, as they believed ignorance was the greatest threat to democracy. They worked closely with republican newspaper editors, generating a heavy flow of letters, editorials and essays.

"To support and perpetuate the EQUAL RIGHTS OF MAN" was the New York society's "great object," and toward that end they would "constantly express our sentiments." The "Equal Rights of Man" meant to them the right to freedom of speech, press, and assembly; the right to criticize governmental representatives and to demand of them an explanation of their public acts; and the right to publish their reactions in a free press. Foner and Morris, p. 11

Decline

The Federalists opposed them, saying they had been started by Citizen Genet as a tool of the revolutionary government in Paris. Members responded by claiming they were inspired by the Sons of Liberty, the Whig Clubs and other republican groups of the 1770s.

By 1796, most of the groups had disbanded. This was due in significant measure to a strong denunciation from President Washington following the successful quelling of the Whiskey Rebellion. Washington implied that the Democratic-Republican societies had played at least some role in promoting the unrest that led to the Whiskey uprising.

As educational organizations they had some impact. They believed that a republican nation required citizens to act together to deal with social problems at the grass roots. The mobilized citizenry was essential to defeat aristocracy (which they identified with Alexander Hamilton. In opposing rule by the few they helped define what rule by the many might be like. The believed in the free play of intelligence, and insisted upon their rights to freedom of speech, press, and assembly.

References

Elkins, Stanley and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism (1995)
Foner, Philip S. and Richard B. Morris eds. The Democratic-Republican Societies, 1790-1800: A Documentary Sourcebook of Constitutions, Declarations, Addresses, Resolutions, and Toasts (1976)
Link, Eugene Perry. Democratic-Republican Societies, 1790-1800 (1942)
Schoenbachler, Matthew. "Republicanism in the Age of Democratic Revolution: The Democratic-Republican Societies of the 1790s". Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 18, No. 2. (1998) in JSTOR
Wilentz, Sean. The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (2005).

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